


Had Another Talk About Where it’s Going Wrong

by rebelforce



Series: Had Another’s Talk About Where it’s Going Wrong [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Kaydel is only mentioned but I’ll include her in tags, TLJ Spoilers, The conversation we were robbed of in TLJ
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 14:44:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelforce/pseuds/rebelforce
Summary: Talking to a friend, a loved one, or a friend that becomes a loved one is the way we cope with life. The hard conversations are the ones that make us grow. They’re the conversations that knit our relationships with unbreakable trust and love.Finn and Rey find the only empty corner left on the Millennium Falcon and have one of those conversations.





	Had Another Talk About Where it’s Going Wrong

Breathe. 

Just breathe. 

Rey was leaning against the durasteel walls of the Millennium Falcon, her forehead pressed blissfully into the cold surface. It was doing very little to soothe the migraine that had seeped into her brain, the pounding of it matching the beat of her own heart. There had been not one moment of relief since Snoke had invaded her mind, poking and prodding at thoughts and memories that didn’t belong to him. Memories that barely belonged to Rey, since she hardly felt at all like the same young woman that had been scavenging the Jakku sands not that long ago. 

Hyperspace was much different than the desert. The darkness, the vast eternity of it was a relieving contrast to the suffocating heat and grit of her home planet. If one could even call that a home. 

Rey turned her head the left, scoping down the small gallery of the starship, her eyes mindlessly scanning the remaining Resistance members. Bodies were scuttled together, packed in where logically there was not enough room for so many people to be, but laps and legs and backs had become chairs for those that were comfortable with the intimacy. 

They could not see Rey from her vantage point in the corner, for which she was thankful for. They had all been overwhelmingly nice to her, had gazed at her, looks of awe and hope spread unabashedly on their faces. Kaydel Ko Connix had shaken Rey’s hand, her somber expression holding onto the guise of professionalism, but the trembling of the girls fingers had given away just how she felt about Rey. 

“I’m no hero,” Rey thought to herself, squashing the memory. 

She’d made too many mistakes in too few days time to be considered a hero. Trusting Kylo Ren (not Ben, she reminded herself), had not been the right way to go. Something inside her had wanted desperately, so desperately, to succeed in bringing him back to the light side, back to Leia. But what Rey knew now is that she was trying to pay a debt that had never belonged to her in the first place. Saving Kylo Ren was not, and would never be, on Rey’s shoulders. 

Shame racked through her with surprising speed. With it, suddenly, we’re tears, hot and heavy, but also so quickly that Rey was caught off guard by them. The salt water washed down her face, and she watched as the droplets hit the floor with tiny smacks, spraying in dozens of directions. 

There were footsteps behind her, audible even without the Force, so she made haste in wiping the tears from her cheeks to avoid questions she didn’t want to answer. 

“Rey?” It was Finn, the only person that she wouldn’t have turned away in that moment. 

Rey looked up, pulling the corners of her mouth up like a marionette, a puppet without control of their own expression. “Hi.”

“You’re crying,” Finn frowned at her and stepped forward, laying a gentle hand on his friend’s shoulder. 

“No,” Rey shook her head as though he’d believe that, and changed the subject. “How’s Rose?” 

“Rose is fine.” Finn crinkled his face in scrutiny, searching Rey for some kind of answer. “Is that what this is about?”

“What? No.” The accusation caught Rey off guard. She’d only just met Rose today, why would she be upset about - oh. “Finn, I-“

“Rose is just a friend,” Finn blurted, the words bubbling from his throat like boiling water. 

Instead of saying more, Finn flung himself at her, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. The embrace had become all too familiar to them, heads on shoulders and arms unwilling to let go. This is where Rey had begun to feel safe. 

“Finn.” Rey would have laughed at the miscommunication, had this been any other day. “Can we talk?” 

“Please,” Finn nodded forcefully, “let’s talk.”

They made their way into a little storage closet off the hallway, settling onto little crates and leaving the door open, so they had enough room to poke their legs out. 

“I think we have a lot to catch up on,” Rey started, her hands twisting in her lap. 

A broom handle was starting to slip towards them and Finn caught it, smacking it backwards into the opposite direction. 

“Tell me everything,” he pleaded, his eyes warm and open, full of genuine concern. 

Rey sighed and jumped into her tale, starting with Luke on his isolated island covered in tiny squawking birds and strange frog ladies. She made a point to leave out the creature with the green milk, but spent time explaining the man Luke Skywalker had become. The legend spread from mouths to listening ears, the tales of a brave hero whispered among children, the very legend Rey herself had believed to be a myth, had been, well, not as she expected. 

Reflecting upon the feeling of disappointment made it sink in again as Rey wished that somehow, Luke had become the father figure she’d pined for her entire life. Something she’d found in Han, but had been ripped from her before it’d had time to settle. Another thing taken from her by Kylo Ren. 

Finn tensed, his demeanor noticeably different when Kylo appeared in her story. Shame washed over her body like drizzling ice water as she explained what she’d done, as she tried to explain why she’d done it. The visions Snoke had put into her mind were still clear as day, real as life, but Rey knew better now than to think Kylo would truly join them again on the light side. It has all been smoke and mirrors, a lie put forth to use Rey to do Snoke’s bidding. She felt sick. 

Tears burned hot and thick again on Rey’s cheeks as the story came to an end. Time stood still around them as the silence from Finn weighed heavy like syrup, covering and dripping until Rey thought she might suffocate. 

Finn did not appear angry. His expression was thoughtful, somewhere between compassionate and... irritated?

“Please say something.” Rey spoke, her voice just above a whisper. “If you’re mad at me-“

“I could never be mad at you,” Finn interjected. His left hand balled up into a fist, but he relaxed it about as quickly as it happened. “Do you... forgive Kylo Ren?” 

His tone and expression were at odds, a person tiptoeing along barbed wire. The shame bubbled again under Rey’s skin, and she realized what this might look like to Finn. 

To Finn, an ex-stormtrooper. 

“I know what this looks like.” Rey studied the floor beneath her feet. The sole of her shoe had wiped away the years of dust and dirt, and she could almost see her reflection in the durasteel. “Knowing what I do now, I understand the mistakes I made. Snoke created a reality that he knew I wanted to see, and I was wrong to believe it. But Finn I... I wanted to believe it.” 

“Why?” Finn swallowed, the strain exaggerated in the lines of his throat. “You know what he did, what the First Order is capable of. Ren attacked me, he tortured Poe, he tortured you, Rey.” 

She felt her lip tremble and bit down on the flesh to still the movement. 

“He killed his father.” Finn finished, and the disappointment in his voice made Rey’s heart lurch for the hundredth time that day. 

“You don’t understand.” Rey shook her head, frustration bubbling up. “With Luke- I- I was desperate.”

“For what?” 

“For someone to be on my side. For someone to understand what this is,” Rey waved her hand, and the broomstick leaning against the wall clattered to the floor. “I needed someone to show me my place in all this and Luke couldn’t. Wouldn’t.” 

“Kylo Ren was never the answer.” Finn’s tone was clipped and his hands gripped the edge of his sleeves. 

“I know that now,” Rey shot back. “I was manipulated. Tortured. All of this is on my shoulders now, Finn, and I didn’t ask for any of it. I felt more alone in those weeks than I ever felt on Jakku.” 

“What about me?” Finn stood suddenly, his makeshift seat careening backwards into the wall. “Leia? How about Chewie? We’re all rooting for you Rey, we’re all here for you.” 

“I know.” Rey stood up slowly to meet him, placing her hands on his forearm. “I’m sorry.” 

Finn softened noticeably at her touch, his head bowing just slightly to look in her eyes. “Rey you’re not alone in this fight. There is so much at stake but even if you feel like it’s all on your shoulders, remember that the rest of the Resistance is here to carry that weight.” He placed his hands on her aforementioned shoulders, giving them a squeeze. “Even if they all go away tomorrow, if nothing is left. You’ll always have me to lean on. Okay?” 

The earnestness in his voice took Rey’s breath away, and the warmth of his eyes made her tremble. She’d seen that look before, on Takodana, but he’d been asking her to run away with him then. Too much had happened now, for that to be a possibility. 

“Okay,” Rey whispered, and without breaking eye contact, she leaned forward and pressed their lips together. She missed her mark just slightly, but the sentiment was all the same. 

“That’s the second time today that’s happened to me,” Finn said, but then he smiled and kissed her again, cupping her cheek with his right hand. 

“You’re lucky.” Rey breathed as they broke apart. “Thank you, Finn.” 

He hugged her again instead of answering with words, and Rey knew the safety of his embrace was more than words could express anyways. The events of the day seemed less dire when she thought about what Finn had said. 

With Finn, Leia, and the Resistance, maybe they had a chance. Rey realized, as Finn squeezed her tighter in response to her sigh, that her headache from earlier had gone away, as if telling the story had washed away all of the physical pain she’d felt. 

“Wait, what about Rose?” 

Finn studied her face for a moment before he laughed, catching her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “Rose is gonna love you.”

Maybe there was some hope left on that star freighter after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi friends! Thank you for reading!! I’m usually an avid Finn/Poe but this took a turn and honestly I’m happy with it. I was thinking about making this a series in which Rey seaks council from members of the Resistance. There could be a chapter with Leia, with Poe, a Force ghost Luke (??)... we’ll see where the inspiration takes me!


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